The Official 2013 MLB Season Thread

[alpha]

Jonah Keri was just saying in his power ranking they should start Heisey in center and move Choo to the corner.

[citizen]

Word, I'm pulling for the Reds to win the NL Pennant. They're still gonna need another dope starter for the playoffs (same story as last season). Bailey is looking like a solid #4 starter in the postseason, though.

um last postseason they lost Cueto after one batter and still got great outings from Latos, Arroyo and Bailey, as long as they are healthy, i don't see this as a problem.

if they can't win with this pitching staff i don't see anyway they can get much better in the rotation outside of chapman (which is pretty clear that aren't going to take seriously) or trading leake and a boatload of prospects for a short term solution

[peanut butter]

Jonah Keri was just saying in his power ranking they should start Heisey in center and move Choo to the corner.

This works until Ludwick returns but then what?



PEACE

[alpha]

Like Dusty is a gonna make a move that makes baseball sense...
But lets say he did, you put ludwick back out there and make defensive subs later in the game?

[peanut butter]

Like Dusty is a gonna make a move that makes baseball sense...
But lets say he did, you put ludwick back out there and make defensive subs later in the game?

I dont actually understand their commitment to Ludwick. In that lineup, a Heisey-like player who can go and pick it is acceptable, so long as he isn't out there actively costing the team runs like Choo is currently. They should go with Choo and Bruce in the corners and let Heisey keep the seat warm in center until Hamilton is ready to go. But instead they'll likely go with the currently constructed clusterfuck that includes Ludwick until Choo hurts himself or gives up a dome homer like Canseco in Tejas.



PEACE

[peanut butter]

Tim Lincecum went from Cy Young to *Sigh* Young



PEACE

[capable_keL]

[Kid That's Lifeless]

Dom Brown just dropped a bomb in Philly.

[Philaflava]

Shit was unreal. The God Utley tho.

[Reason]

that dom brown second decker was scary

[Reason]

bryce harper you are so dreamy

[ayentee]

sometimes i feel like im the only a's fan on this forum

[ayentee]

I hope Coco isn't juicing, it would break my heart if he was.



39

he did look a bit angrier than usual tonight for popping up that pitch in the 6th

[peanut butter]

sometimes i feel like im the only a's fan on this forum

I'm not a fan, but I really like the team, and watch most of their games. I'll trade you Blanco, Torres, Pagan, Pence as well as throw Lincecum AND the rights to San Jose for Cespedes, Crisp, Young and Reddick.



PEACE

[alpha]

been to a few A's games with Smithee. Always liked the A's but have always been a Giants fan. As a San Jose resident it'd be dope if they moved across the street from the Shark Tank.

[Jayou Ayen]

sometimes i feel like im the only ayen on this forum

39

[Reason]

[Reason]

holy fuck this nats team is so sick. i see over a 100 wins this year for real

[Reason]

8-1 vs 7-2...best early season series thus far

[alpha]

Anthony Rizzo has got some power... his swing has alot of movement but it seems to work for him. saw him just bomb a sinker low and away opposite field today.

[Reason]

What it was like to face Ted Williams
April, 11, 2013
APR 11
5:00
PM ET
By David Schoenfield | ESPN.com
RECOMMEND23TWEET7COMMENTS0EMAILPRINT
There's a neat book out called "Facing Ted Williams" that's worth checking out if you're a Red Sox fan, Williams fan or just a fan of players talking about baseball from the old days.

[+] Enlarge

Sports Publishing
Ted Williams played his last game in 1960 but he's still worth reading about.
Writer Dave Heller interviewed dozens of players who played against Williams -- from pitchers who faced him many times to players who appeared in only a few games in the big leagues -- and gets some great insight and anecdotes.

One of the best interviews was with Virgil Trucks, who just recently died at the age of 95. He was old when Heller interviewed him but remembered so much. Williams hit 12 home runs off Trucks, the most he hit against one pitcher. Here's Trucks:
You couldn't fool him on pitches. I never even tried to fool him, because it would just be wasting a pitch anyway. ... You try to hide the ball from him, and he could still pick it up. He'd see that ball and he could see those seams and he knew what you were throwing. If you showed him that ball at all -- just up here before you release it -- he could pick it up right there. He could see a gnat on a gnat's nest from 100 yards.

Williams hit 10 home runs off Hall of Famer Bob Feller, although we don't have complete data for the rest of their numbers (missing 1939-41 and 1946-47). From the numbers we do have, Williams hit .333 with 34 walks and 10 strikeouts. In typical Feller fashion, however:
Was he the toughest out ? No, I had dozen fellows that were tougher than Ted. A lot of left-handed hitters like Tommy Henrich and Taft Wright, Stan Spence and Roy Cullenbine, who was a switch-hitter, Johnny Pesky, Nellie Fox, Rip Radcliff -- they were all tougher than Ted. DiMaggio hit me pretty good. ... I have no idea why he didn't hit a home run off me before the war, but he just didn't do it; though he hit 10 home runs off me in my last 10 years. ... He was difficult to strike out. I'd throw him a changeup around his ankles and he'd pull it foul, and then I'd throw a slider around his fists -- right around his belly button, around the belt buckle -- and that was a good pitch for him.

Jack Harshman was a left-handed pitcher with the Giants, White Sox, Orioles and Indians (and briefly Williams' teammate in 1959). Williams hit just 5-for-35 off him without a home run.
As far as my being lucky against him, that's what it is. I mean nobody actually outpitched [Ted]; he was just that good a hitter. You have the statistics here -- which I did not know until I read this -- that he only hit .156 against me. I did remember, though, that he never hit a home run and he had one double. ... Something else about Ted that was outstanding was that I honestly [cannot] recall him ever taking an awkward swing. When he made his mind to swing, it was a fluid, good, solid, balanced swing. So many of the other hitters that were considered good very often would be totally fooled and looked awkward, but he never did.

Anyway, that's just a small sample. One of my favorite moments from the book was an obscure infielder named Chuck Stevens talking about watching Williams take batting practice. But Stevens asks: "I often wondered if Joe [DiMaggio] stopped what he was doing. Did you ever stop to think that? One of the greats looking at another great."

It was a fun project by Heller, something different than the standard biography. Wade Boggs also has an interesting foreword in the book. Makes you wonder: Who in today's game will we still be talking about 60 years from now?

i'm gonna cop this book

[Ramen]

Greinke tho

[Philaflava]

Kemp is like the Drake of the MLB.

[Tommy Bunz]

shitty job by Ellis protecting his pitcher

[Dwight Strawberry]

Dodgers/Padres games got a whole lot more exciting the rest of the way.

[Philaflava]

apparently there is a history between them. grienke hit him three already.

[capable_keL]

Kemp is like the Drake of the MLB.

that's some old beef.. but yeah, that was embarrassing to watch

[Positive A]

Reyes

[jredd109]

Reyes

about the only guy doing anything consistently right now. hopefully this is the trigger to get everyone else to pull their socks up.

[capable_keL]

excited to see this stud take the hill